VERA Files
Our coverage of environment and climate change issues, including “cold” cases of environment disasters. Earth Files is supported by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network, which aims to empower journalists from developing countries to cover the environment more effectively.
The possible presence of toxic heavy metals and silica dust in the crushed dolomite rocks dumped at the Manila Baywalk may cause cancer, respiratory and kidney problems and subsequently weaken the immune system, a toxicologist had warned.
The environment department’s project to beautify Manila Bay smacks of insensitivity to the people’s difficulties in coping with the 2019 coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and contradicts President Duterte’s vow to spend public money judiciously, particularly in this time of pandemic.
This is a call to action for each and every one of us to protect wildlife and the environment.
Eating bats, particularly its wings, drive evil spirits away, according to a popular Philippines folklore. Another widely held belief is that pangolin scales ward off witch’s spells, while its meat cures asthma.
It took the much-dreaded Covid-19 to give the environment a break from Man’s abuses.
Various studies support the theory that COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease — one that originated from animals and passed on to human beings. What has still to be confirmed is the culprit animal species. Yet, bats, snakes and pangolins have already become prime suspects.
It’s an uneasy calm around Taal volcano almost a week after it spewed enormous ashes that blanketed surrounding towns forcing thousands of families to flee to ash-covered but safer grounds.
Residents of Batangas were startled when the Taal, which has been quiet for more than four decades – suddenly rumbled and spewed ashes that enveloped nearby towns and cities, reaching as far as Quezon City and Antipolo.
It is around the holidays that the country generates the biggest volume of garbage, including plastic, says Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu, so consumers are reminded to reuse and recycle and choose materials that do not harm the environment.
Ten years to the day, the memories of that disaster are still vivid in many people’s minds.